MLB Fantasy: Two-Start Pitchers for Week 11—Wainwright, Buchholz

Raise your hand if you predicted that Armando Galarraga would pitch a perfect game. As much as I have liked the kid over the last year, nothing in his resume said he was able to dominate a game, much less throw a perfecto. He’s a decent play against weak teams and will likely have a rotation slot for a while, but don’t think for a minute that he’ll ever come close to that kind of dominant performance again.

Interleague play continues this week so pay attention to American League designated hitters taking a seat on the bench in National League parks and some National League hitters getting extra at bats as designated hitters if they are playing in American League parks.

Also, all 30 Major League teams play exactly six games this week.

Now, the projected 2-start pitchers for this week. For those of you in leagues who require you to set your lineup at the beginning of the week, these are the guys you should strongly consider:

American League BAL Chris Tillman BOS Clay Buchholz CWS Freddy Garcia CLE Justin Masterson DET Max Scherzer KC Kyle Davies LAA Joe Saunders MIN Carl Pavano NYY C.C. Sabathia OAK Trevor Cahill SEA Luke French TB David Price TEX C.J. Wilson TOR Shaun Marcum

National League ARI Ian Kennedy ATL Kenshin Kawakami CHC Carlos Zambrano CIN Aaron Harang COL Aaron Cook FLA Nate Robertson HOU Felipe Paulino LAD Hiroki Kuroda MIL Randy Wolf NYM Johan Santana PHI Roy Halladay PIT Brad Lincoln SD Jon Garland SF Jonathan Sanchez STL Adam Wainwright WAS John Lannan

Rick’s Picks
Five best bets for double-start pitchers this week

1. Adam Wainwright gets two weak offenses at home (vs SEA, vs OAK) and is the best bet for the week. He should dominate both opponents and deliver two wins.

2. Clay Buchholz has been a monster this season for Boston. He’s posted six straight strong outings and this week should add to his total. Home starts against Arizona and the Dodgers should both provide challenges, but this kid is definitely up to the task. Play him and reap the rewards.

3. Johan Santana gets one good matchup (vs CLE) and one bad one (at NYY). He’s not mowing down opponents like he did four or five years ago, but he’s still pretty good. Look for a good result against the Indians and then hold your breath against the Yankees.

4. David Price gets two difficult matchups (at ATL, vs FLA), but will still be good this week. Play him confidently.

5. A tough week awaits the best pitcher in baseball (at NYY, vs MIN), but Roy Halladay is still a play. He’s unlikely to get lit up, but the wins will be tough to come by against two very strong foes.

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Rick Milleman is the head fantasy baseball contributor at DraftBuddy.com. Check his annual player projections included in the Cheatsheet Compiler & Draft Buddy to help draft your championship team.